Laudet Dominum

A couple of our Religious Education students had some questions for me. This week’s are from Beau Merriman.

Question: Why do you wear a cloak?

The long black cloak that I wear, which altar servers also wear, is called a cassock. It dates back a long, long way (over 1500 years!) as the traditional clothing of a priest. Although I don’t always wear it, especially throughout the week, I do wear it for more formal occasions, like Sunday Mass.

The cassock is meant to be simple clothing, like a uniform. Ideally, a priest should be recognizable, but without wearing flashy or fancy clothing. Seeing a man in a cassock should allow for quick recognition that he is a priest, much like a deputy’s uniform does for members of our county’s sheriff’s department. The black shirt with a white tab that I wear throughout the week serves much the same function, but the cassock is more traditional and formal.

Question: Why do you wear black clothes?

You might hear an adult say, “Black makes you look slimmer”. While that might be true, that’s not the reason why I wear black. The only thing that’s going to make me look skinnier is exercise and eating healthier, which I’m trying to do.

As a priest, I wear black because it’s a symbol of dying to myself. It’s also a sign of poverty, as black dye was the cheapest and easiest to make. My priesthood is not about me, but about Jesus and His People, so I have to die to what I want to do with my life and instead live it for Jesus and for all of you. I’m also called to live a much simpler life, giving up family and many things I want for myself.

Question: Why do we have colorful windows?

A simple answer would be, “Because they’re colorful instead of just clear.” But that’s not the full reason, of course.

A lot of churches, especially older ones, have beautiful stained glass windows. These windows are made up of small pieces of colored glass that make up an image of the saints, symbols of our Faith, and more. They help to teach the faith in images, much like a picture book for little children does. While newer churches haven’t continued this tradition, St. Mary’s here in Malta was built with colored glass as decoration. It also helps to keep from being distracted by seeing things happening outside while we’re praying in the Church.

A couple of our Religious Education students had some questions for me. This week’s are from Beau Merriman.

Question: Why do you light candles at the beginning of Mass?

It seems strange to use candles at Mass, doesn’t it? After all, we have electricity and lights that do a better job of lighting everything up. They might have needed them a long time ago for light, but not anymore.

Of course, we don’t use candles to provide light to see as we do with light bulbs and lamps. The candles are what we call a symbol: they show something more important. They are a reminder to us that the Light of Christ is in the world. When we see a lit candle in church, whether the red one by the tabernacle or the ones on the altar, it’s a reminder to us that Jesus is here. During Mass, we light candles to remind ourselves that Jesus is coming to us.

Question: Why do you read stories to us?

As Mass, a number of stories from the Bible are read. One from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and one from the Gospel. These stories are telling the stories of Jesus and His work to bring all people to Him.

When I read from one of the Gospels, I’m telling the story of what Jesus himself did and said. The Gospel reading is especially important to remind us of what Jesus wants us to do as His followers. He taught so that we might know Him and follow Him, so we listen to Him that might do what He asks us to do. I read the Gospel out loud so that I might explain what it means for us today.

Question: Why do you put your fingers together when you pray?

During Mass, there’s a certain point in which I pick up the bread, which we call the host, and repeat Jesus’ words, “This is my body.” The same happens with the wine when I say, “This is my blood.” From that point on, that is no longer bread and wine but Jesus Himself.

Just like bread you might have for a sandwich, this bread can leave crumbs. If any crumbs come off after I say those words, they are Jesus as well, so I don’t want them to fall on the floor or something like that. There could be crumbs on my fingertips where I held the host, so I keep my fingers together to hold them until I can brush them off into my chalice, which also contains Jesus.

For some of us, it probably feels like we just celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Day, but now we’ve started the Lenten season. Every year, we’re reminded of the need for increased prayer, fasting, and abstinence. And every year, we might grumble and complain about having to “give something up”.

Interestingly, more and more secular research and practices have shown the benefits of many traditional Lenten practices, in both our physical and mental health. Practices once seen as distinctly Catholic, and ridiculed for that reason, are now encouraged by secular practitioners.

During the Lenten season, we often try to take up a new habit or get rid of a bad habit. Whether it’s stopping smoking, more exercise, more reading and less TV, Lent is often a time to make some small change to ourselves. Many of us do return to our old ways after Easter, but that doesn’t always happen.

Interestingly, scientific studies have shown that a sustained period where we can focus on this change of habit can significantly help in making that change stick. Current studies have put the average time for making a habit stick at 66 days, which is a bit longer than the 45+ days of the Lenten season, so we need to be willing to continue that practice after we’ve entered into the Easter celebrations. This doesn’t negate the benefit of changing habits during Lent, however.

For two days during Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we are asked to enter into a fast from food. Instead of our accustomed 3 full meals a day, we’re asked to only have 1 regular meal and 2 smaller snacks. Not a difficult fast by any means, as traditional fasting was much more severe.

Now this idea of fasting has carried over into secular realms. There has been significant research into intermittent fasting, eating one meal a day generally somewhere between the hours of 3-5 PM, as a sustainable weight loss plan. There is also significant evidence that occasional fasts can help with overall physical health.

Of course, during Lent we’re encouraged to spend more time in prayer. Both private and public opportunities for prayer are presented to us, and we know they will help our spiritual life. Our Lenten prayer should draw us closer to Our Lord.

In addition to the spiritual benefits, it’s long been known that prayer also benefits our physical and mental lives. Basic meditation is encouraged to reduce stress and aid in psychological healing from trauma. Meditation also helps with decision making, learning, and more.

This is just a small sample of the awareness that is developing within the secular world surrounding traditional Lenten practices. The spiritual benefits should be enough to encourage us to embrace these practices, but the physical and mental benefits are nice additions!

Last week, I wrote about how we as disciples need to go further than just the minimums in our journey with Christ. He calls us to a deeper love of Him and neighbor.

This week’s Gospel shows how deep that love needs to go. Can we truly love our neighbor, especially if they’re an enemy or have hurt us in any way? It’s extremely difficult, even painful, to do so. Loving our enemy can and will be one way we need to “take up our cross” as we follow His way.

Our Lord shows us what this looks like, as He often does. During His extremely painful suffering on the Cross, did Jesus hold it against the Jewish leaders and Roman officials? Did He criticize His followers for abandoning Him? No, He offered forgiveness as He cried out, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” He ordered forgiveness to those who hurt Him, those who spit on Him, those who left Him alone, those who killed Him.

Can we do this? Yes, but it takes a great amount of humility to do so. It takes the risk of pain, suffering, humiliation, self denial. It takes the strength to “turn the other cheek”, sometimes literally, and accept the blows that come.

So, why do this? Saying, “Jesus said so” is a perfectly accurate answer, but the better answer is, “Jesus did it.” To be a disciple is to be a follower or student of a master. It’s to sit at His feet, learn from what He does and says, and then go out and emulate Him. Our goal as disciples is to hear Our Lord say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”

The challenge for us is to be true disciples who have learned and continue to learn from Our Lord, and love as He did even to the greatest pain we can imagine. That’s what it means to “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If we accept this challenge and genuinely show the love of neighbor that Our Lord modeled, we will be greeted by Him as good and faithful servants. That alone should make it worth the risk of pain and difficulties that come with discipleship.

It’s not easy being a Christian. Following Our Lord as a disciple means much more than mere belief in Him. It means going deeper in our relationship with Him and our brothers and sisters. It means living in ways that are not always understood even by those who claim the title of Christian without living it.

The Gospel passage this week is a good example of how we are called to live. Our Lord takes the commands of the Father given to the people of Israel, and goes further. He calls us to a higher standard of not merely doing the minimum commanded. He calls us to a “righteousness [surpassing] that of the scribes and Pharisees”, otherwise “you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The scribes and Pharisees were zealous for following the Law of Moses, as they thought it needed to be followed. This often meant setting up additional rules around the Law that they expected to be followed with the same rigidity. They were not content to hold themselves accountable, but also held their fellow Jews to follow the same standard and were quick to condemn anyone who didn’t.

In one way, Our Lord is actually praising the Pharisees and scribes for their desire for faithfulness to the Law. At the same time, He challenges us to go deeper in our love of neighbor than just mere observance of the commandments.

This is where the difficulty in following Him comes in. It’s not enough to avoid murder, but also to avoid murdering someone’s reputation. It’s not enough to avoid adultery, but also to avoid lustful thoughts and looking at another with lust. It’s not enough to avoid false oaths, but also to avoid being deceitful in words.

It’s difficult, but worth it. Our Lord promises us that if we are faithful to Him and his teachings, we will enter into heaven: “whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” This should be our greatest desire as disciples: to enter the kingdom of heaven and to be seen as faithful servants to Our Lord.